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[AD&D – Dualiar] Prelude

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This is the prelude from a story I was writing a long, long time ago.

The material contains reference to copyrighted material owned by TSR and now Wizards of the Coast. Disclaimer, blah, blah, blah.

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“Arrrhhhh!” The scream of the dying dragon filled the cave and rattled it to its very foundations. The wounded warriors collapsed onto the mounds of gold to recover. The stench of poison gas still hung in the air like a haze of rotten carcasses. It was all worth it, though, because of the treasure. They would finally be able to settle down.

*****

Rest. That was all he craved. After weeks of restless camps, standing guard for half of the night, and hiking miles through forests, swamps and mountains, he could use any rest that he could get. His sword, however, had other ideas. Illent Des silently sighed as he found out what his future held.

*****

The walls were closing in. He had to get out. He had to leave and release the magical fires that ripped through him. A rarity in his race, Telrin the Dwarf was a Star Gazer. He had bonded with a spelljammer, connecting his life with its. The pain welling from his wound mixed with the fires racing through his veins. Telrin screamed out in pain and frustration because he knew that he had to contain the fires within him, no matter what the cost turned out to be.

*****

Cerin called out to him. Cerin, his master, had a purpose for Nym Zoland, one of the few Dark Elf worshippers. He knew that he would soon be meeting his purpose and his god. Nym didn’t fear death, for Cerin waited for him. Nym knew that he was getting powerful. The power scared him, for it might turn him into something as ugly and as evil as what he had just helped to kill. He knew that his purpose had something to do with the Shadow-Creatures. It tortured Nym not to know what lie ahead.

*****

Flard Snet felt a certain kinship with Telrin, yet a certain alienation presented itself as well. Flard was an Inanimate, a controller of the Non-Living. He took his powers seriously, too seriously according to his friends. If he took them too lightly, he felt, he would be consumed by them. He wasn’t afraid of his powers, just wary. Would he have to be more serious as he gained more powers? The thing Flard was afraid of was the future.

*****

Ahh, peace at last, thought Zet Unt as his leg went numb. The dragon had seen right through his most powerful illusion. Maddened, it had maimed him with a scaly claw. The creature had almost missed, but Zet hadn’t been quick enough. He flinched at the memory of his tearing flesh. Zet believed he was going to die. He had dealt with illusions all of his life, always running away from what was real. Now he faced death, which happened to be completely real. Zet wondered what was on the other side. Would he be a ghost, wandering the universe forever, or would he be at rest on an exotic plane of existence? Zet Unt welcomed both options.

*****

The ravaged party looked at each other with nothing but a sense of premonition. As they healed the wounded and collected the treasure, they walked as if they were in a deep sleep. All of the tasks that should have excited and grieved them actually brought about no response whatsoever. They realized that they had vanquished only a minor evil compared to what was really out there.

Horoscope

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TAURUS (April 20-May 20): You have underestimated how much happiness you are capable of attracting into your life. Believe it or not, this artificially low expectation has cheated you out of your fair share of joy, pleasure, fulfillment, and a sense of meaning. Your assignment for the next four weeks is to jack up your levels of happiness by at least 20 percent. Work hard at this task, Taurus — at least as hard as you do at your job. (The greater your effort, the more cosmic assistance you’ll receive.) To get started, divest yourself of a mediocre thrill that distracts you from an intelligence-building excitement.

Horoscope

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TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Tune in, please, to all the nagging itches that fester in the back of your mind and at the bottom of your heart. For now, do not attempt to scratch them; do not judge them; do not visualize them as frustrated desires whose purpose is to drive you mad with longing. Instead, Taurus, simply regard those nagging itches with reverence and curiosity. Give them room to breathe and allow them to speak their truths. Surrender to the fullness of the emotions they stir. It may take an hour or it may take a few days, but if you persist in this approach, the nagging itches will become your brilliant guides. They will instruct you as to what questions you most need to ask and they will show you how to move in the direction of the blessed answers.

[Carnival] Enemy: Certainty

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The young boy, Tommy, that had vacated the contents of his over-full stomach into his lap earlier, turned his face from the scary man in front of him to the scary place that he had just been. The Rides.

The Rides… and, it was guessed, the Ridemaster… were encased in, and perhaps made of, a metallic webbing that looked like every cyberpunk movie ever made had vomited up its nightmares right on that spot. Every one except for the roller coaster. It was in the same draconic shape as when it had been… created? born? But now, it was a hulking, wooden, rattling beast. Its only metal pieces were rusted and conveyed every sense of being primitive.

They all worked. The roller coaster, the ferris wheel, the Tilt-O-Whirl, they all worked. One little boy had even vomited on the Ferris Wheel. Tommy. Neither Tommy nor his mother noticed the little metal spiders that were riding on his clothing like burrs. Inside the Rides, conduits of electricity, light, and thought flared, illuminating many of the tunnel-like areas of the Rides in an eerie glow. They resonated with a thought. “Little bastard.”

Here, Dragon was so free. He admired the craftsmanship of the clothes he had found himself in when he woke up. His trench coat and armor were stylized and adorned with runes in a flaring font that bordered on the remake of Lost in Space. His Warhammer was missing, but he sensed it somewhere amidst the technology that was surrounding him. He was connected to the Rides central annex by a cranial implant – a plug drilled directly into his brainpan. From here, his spiders were his eyes and his ears. They hadn’t spread over the Carnival very much, as the dust and general nastiness that made up the place, and the humans that populated it, would be detrimental to their sensitive equipment.

The roller coaster, though. That was the bitch of the situation. People were thrilled at his Rides. His re-made old ones, and his new VR Battle Mech Theater, and his new Perfect You ride. Each one was scaring the riders until they puked. “Little bastard.” And they loved every second. But the coaster was *killing* his spiders. It resisted every attempt he and the Annex made at upgrading it. It was far too much like that irrational, emotional, physically reliant creature that he had finally caged. He thought about it, and the hallways of the Rides pulsed with thought again.

“I’m not sure you exist.”

The coaster seemed to bristle, rattling in an alarming fashion. Somehow…. somehow it replied, in a snarling, lizard-like voice.

“I will be rid of you.”

The spiders that held the Rides together scuttled about in an alarming fashion as laughter echoed through the fiber, the copper, and the light.

Horoscope

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TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Close your eyes and visualize yourself taking a walk in nature. Feel the resilient strength of your leg muscles and the touch of the air on your face. Take deep breaths as you quietly exult in the motion of your arms swinging rhythmically. Gaze slightly upward, taking in the far horizon and the sweep of the sky. Now imagine that at a certain point, the wind becomes noticeably stronger. Branches of nearby trees begin to wave, unleashing a rising whoosh. Instinctively, your heartbeat quickens. Your flesh prickles with a reflexive alertness. But of course there’s no danger. What you’re experiencing is a primal excitement at the growing energy around you; a heightened awareness of the sheer aliveness of the world. Everything I just described, Taurus, is a perfect metaphor for the turning point that will arrive this week.

Horoscope

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TAURUS (April 20-May 20): I have several friends who are massage therapists, and they have each offered a similar testimony: They know their work is having the desired effect when drool spills from a client’s mouth and drips on the floor.
That is the exact level of serenity you need in abundance this week, Taurus. You may well be able to pull off high-intensity, white-hot, life-changing feats, but only if you also carve out luxurious dips into rhapsodic peace.

Damn. Maybe I should have been working harder on meditation. Heh.